From Aerial Silks to Arial Warfare
by OpalescentStorm
Summary: As the years of the 1940s move forward, Naruto, Chouji, Tenten, Hinata, and Kiba hide from the war and their nationalities . What, though, will happen to them when they are uprooted from their homes? A World War Two era AU.
1. Introduction

All of a sudden, the bright lights flashed on, and the circus was illuminated. It was a simple affair, with a large wooden ring furnished with ladders and a few boxes and various implements hidden in the shadows. Trapezes, the fabrics for aerial silks acts and a tightrope hung from the ceiling, casting shadows upon the floor. However, the surroundings and the setup didn't attract the attention of the crowd. Their focus was drawn to a figure in the middle leaning casually against a short staff of some sort.

The person was clad in all orange, sequins on his suit catching the lights and throwing reflections of it everywhere. His blonde hair stuck up in all directions, and his grin was bright and almost dangerous. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome, welcome, welcome to the humble Circo Pazzesco! I'm the Notorious Nathan, but there will be time to talk later. Can't you people tell she's worried about something?" the ringleader asked, his voice mock-annoyed as he pointed upwards.

Spotlights pointed up at a girl who sat on the tightrope, her head hung low and her hands limp at her sides. The musicians started up with a few minor chords, and she stood gracefully as if she was on firm ground, brushed off her pure white tutu, and opened up startlingly white eyes. She took a few experimental steps, her arms held out as if she was searching for something.

A flute soared above the rest in a sad melody, and the girl extended her arms behind her and arched her back until her hands grasped the ropes. She performed a reverse handstand and sat upon the rope once more before she gently picked herself up again. Carefully but fluidly she twirled on the rope, her blue-black hair streaming behind her. Then she lept up gently, her legs criss-crossing once in the air before she landed on the rope. She never looked down once, but only looked forward, as if trying to see further, as if trying to find something or someone.

The music gradually grew louder, and she twirled twice, her arms held aloft for balance. As the music increased, she leapt forward once, her feet landing gently on the rope before she lept again. Quickly, she moved across the rope until she was at the other side. Once there, though, she stopped. The music did as well, and the audience members seemed to hold their collective breath.

The music began back up as a soft and melodic but sad line from a violin. Clutching her heart, the girl made her way morosely back across the rope, spinning slowly once in the middle of her journey. She reached out with her right hand, and her left hand extended above her head as her left leg reached out behind her. After holding this position for a moment, she then transitioned slowly into a handstand and from there, over her handstand until she was sitting once more on the rope.

She tried to push herself back up, but as the music faltered, she lost her grip and fell back onto the rope, clutching it between her calves and with her right hand. Her legs relaxed and her arm fell to her side, limp. A strain of violin music sounded as she struggled once more and finally lay still, at which point the music ended softly. The audiences' applause resonated throughout before all of the lights turned on once more.

The musicians burst into a strain of boisterous and cheerful music as four figures appeared. Two men were dressed in the ridiculous stage makeup and clothing of clowns; a third man, who was slightly large and had sandy brown hair, was wearing a crisp black suit; the last person, a woman with her brown hair in twin braids, wore a simple dress. The largest man pulled two balls out of his pocket and began to juggle them. After a moment, he added another, then another and another.

The clowns were whispering conspiratorially in the corner, and the woman looked bored. With practiced ease, she pulled a knife from her belt and threw it, hitting one of the balls perfectly. The juggler doesn't blink but juggles another. The woman threw knife after knife from a seemingly endless supply, but the juggler's supply of balls was just as endless.

By now, the clowns had come out of their corner and were beginning to make a game of this. One would put a part of his body in danger but duck or pull away at the last second. The second would do some kind of dance, as if trying to distract the knife-thrower, whose cool precision did not fail her. Finding their antics were being ignored, the clowns begin many other tricks.

They ran in circles around the hapless performers, making games of running away from knifes, throwing other things in the way, trying to physically move the other two, and shoving each other around. All the while, they tripped each other, fell all over the stage, and always jumped back up happily. They never quite realized they constantly were in danger of being killed (or castrated).

Finally the juggler stopped his juggling, slowly got rid of the balls, and menacingly began to chase one of the clowns around. The clown fell on his face a few times, but he always scrambled to his feet and tried to avoid the menacing juggler. Meanwhile, it seemed as if the knife thrower had become angered at losing her game. She put four knives in each hand and aimed at the clown as a collective gasp is heard.

He screwed his eyes shut, only to open them and realize he is pinned by the costume to a board. Yelling obscenities and squirming, he tried to escape but failed. As the still-active second clown fell on his face for the umpteenth time, the woman easily pinned him to the floor with a host of knives. The lights shut off as an angry juggler was bouncing balls off of each clown's head.

After a minute or two, the lights snapped back on, and the blonde man in the orange suit was standing in the center of the ring once more, this time twirling his cane absentmindedly. "Hah, I hope you guys are enjoying the show! We've got two more acts for you guys, so don't leave just yet!" he called out happily before skipping off the stage.

The yellow-edged green aerial silks dropped almost silently from the ceiling as the woman from the previous act walked on stage. Her brown hair was loose around thin shoulders, and her clothing consisted of a white full-body leotard with maroon skirts and gloves.

The music began with a steady, heavy beat and the quieter ululation of several high strings and winds. Snapping her head up, the woman gathered the two silks together and began to quickly make her way up them. As she made her ascent, the music grew in loudness and intensity, more instruments joining the mix.

When she was high up on the silks, she split them, hanging onto one with one hand on each. Her feet twirled several times around each silk, and once she had done that, she let go with her arms. She flipped down once and the silks came unwrapped from her feet, but by then she was already clinging on with her hands once more.

Her whole body wound around one of the silks, and she pulled the other one close for support as she contorted herself into a myriad of different, difficult body positions. Quickly, she moved back to supporting herself between silks. She wrapped them around her body and her legs as the music quieted, and once she was done wrapping herself, she released the ropes.

As the music grew quickly in loudness, her body free-fell until she almost hit her head on the floor, but she grasped the silks just in time. Now the orchestra was just a twinkling background noise, and she used her arms alone to pull herself up both of the aerial silks, letting her legs trail gracefully behind her.

Soon she was back in midair, high above the many spectators. She grasped one of the silks and pulled it up, making a loop with her right hand as she held on with her legs and feet. Grasping the top of the loop tightly, she put both feet into it. Never letting go of the top, she danced quickly as the music in the background played softly but intensely.

Wrapping a foot in the bottom of the loop, she let go and fell a few feet until she was upside down. Using the strength of her core and legs, she swung herself into a standing position and gripped onto the silk with her hands. She moved so her whole body was facing the audience and she held both of the silks.

Carefully, she pulled herself up until she was almost near the ceiling. The instruments were now almost glaringly loud as she took a deep breath, pulled herself up and down with her arms to gain momentum. The music faded suddenly as she did a half-jump and released the silks, going into a quick fall to the floor.

On her way down, she flipped and twisted numerous times, her body gaining speed until she was a blur of motion. Before she hit the floor, her arms reached out and she grasped the silks, bringing herself to an abrupt but controlled stop, her spread legs only a few feet from the unforgiving circus floor. She gained momentum with her arms once more and dismounted the silks via a simple back-flip.

The lights shut off as the audience applauded tumultuously.

By the time the lights came back on, the aerial silks were out of the way and two figures stood on the platforms near the two separate trapezes. On the left was the black-haired and milky-eyed young woman from before. She wore a silver leotard with a wispy silver tutu, both decorated with midnight blue ribbons and sequins. At the right stood a young man with ruffled brown hair, red tattoos on his face, and a yellow and orange full-body leotard printed with what looked like red tribal patterns.

The two people moved in exact harmony as the loud but gentle orchestral music began up. A single round-off transitioned into a front flip off of their platforms and onto their respective trapezes. The young man dropped into a knee-hold as the trapezes swung once. On the return swing, the young woman swung her body once from her hand-hold and flipped twice before being caught by the young man.

The male climbed up the ropes of the trapeze, and the woman jumped and spun, almost falling but catching herself in an ankle hold. As they swung a second time, she swung her body to prepare momentum, then flew towards the empty trapeze, gently grasping it with her outreached fingers as the orchestral music seemed to dance lightly in the background.

She pulled herself into a standing position as the young man dropped himself from the ropes to stand on the bar. As the trapezes swung back at each other, the young man dropped to an ankle-hold and the young woman jumped carefully at him, twisting her body once and flipping twice in midair.

Her fingers grasped his arms, and he quickly swung her back into the open air. She flew for a moment before grasping tightly the two ropes of the previously-empty trapeze. Now on their separate trapezes, they each simultaneously dropped to a hand-hold, swung once around their bars, and flipped themselves into the air above their own trapezes, grabbing hold tightly to the ropes.

Keeping in perfect harmony, they twisted themselves around their ropes and then dropped, catching themselves in an ankle-hold. With a quick movement of their upper bodies, they swung themselves to a hand-hold on their respective trapezes. They each pushed into a handstand on their bars and then wrapped their legs around the ropes.

From there, they pulled themselves into an upright position, then dropped to stand on the bars. The young woman once more dropped to her hands as the young man jumped to a knee-hold once again. As the trapezes arched, the woman released, twisted two times, and flipped twice before being caught by the hands by the young man, who swung her up behind him. Standing on the bar and holding onto one rope, she reached up and helped pull him up.

The music was now building tension, and the young woman flipped into the air just as the young man swung himself down into an ankle-hold. The woman looked for a moment as if she would just fall all the way back to the floor, but the man grasped her by the ankles before she passed him by.

While the occupied swing was swinging higher, a moment or two before they reached the apex of their flight, he swung her into the air. She flipped once before he caught her again by the ankles. By now, the arc of the unoccupied swing had shortened, making it much further away. As the music swelled, he swung himself a few times for momentum then threw the girl at the empty trapeze. Never closing her eyes, she was able to flip her body three times and twist it twice before catching the empty bar with her hands. Both of them swung into a standing position and bowed right before the lights slammed off.

Once the lights turned back on, the ringmaster was back in the center, his glaring suit still catching the lights. This time, though, there were four people behind him. On his right stood the brunette woman and the man with the sandy-blonde hair. On his left, the milky-eyed girl smiled and blushed prettily as the young man with ruffled brown hair grinned.

"Ladies and gentlemen, before you leave, I beg of you, a round of applause for your amazing performers here today. And don't forget your favorite ringmaster!" he cried out happily. A few of the audience members laughed at his antics, and everyone burst into a loud ovation. The lights dimmed, and the five performers exited the ring as the the crowd began to leave the circus.

In a back room of the circus tent, the performers unabashedly changed back into their street clothes while the ringmaster counted the money made. The black-haired young woman stepped forward and tripped over a garment left on the floor. The brunette was at her side in a moment, but the fallen woman only smiled gently. "I am fine, Tenten. However... I do need my cane back, Naruto," she said softly.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Hina!" the blonde ringmaster said energetically but sincerely. He rushed to her side with the cane. "I've just been a little distracted, I guess," he said, an uncharacteristic frown on his face. "At this rate, we're really going to need a miracle to even make enough money to support our circus," he said forebodingly.


	2. Doubt

"Whoa! Tenten! There's actually cottage cheese in the cottage cheese container!" the blonde boy called excitedly, stopping his raiding of her fridge just to share his unique findings with her. The young woman in question appeared out of an adjoining room and shot him a disparaging look. He offered no apology for raiding through her things, but he did scratch the back of his head in a somewhat sheepish manner.

"And what's supposed to be in the cottage cheese container?" she asked him, rolling her eyes as she parted her wet brown hair and wound it into twin buns. "Actually, no, I have a better question. Why are you in my refrigerator in the first place, Naruto?" she interrogated him, raising a thin eyebrow. Some days, she swore that the whole word would be better off if someone kept that boy on a leash.

"Ten, you always keep all sorts of things in different containers in your fridge! One time I thought I was opening up the container for ice cream, and there were vegetables in there!" he said enthusiastically, waving his hands about and upsetting the glass of water that was on her counter. She jumped forward and saved it just before it made impact with the floor. "And I'm hungry, Ten!" he whined. "The rations aren't enough for me. I'm still growing, after all! Since you always seem to have food, I figured you wouldn't mind..." he trailed off, grinning.

She rolled her eyes for the second time in a half of a minute. "Naruto, you don't act anything like your age," she sighed, placing the glass back on the counter and using a rag to wipe the water off of the floor. "You're almost twenty, right?" she sighed and ruffled his hair, which was already mussed. "Go ahead, eat something. Just don't clean out my entire fridge, all right? I'm not exempt from the rations, I just know how to eat vegetables. Hey, but why did you come here anyway? Usually you just bother Hinata if you're hungry."

"Is this where the party's at? Oh, dang, guys. Naruto's already here. We're definitely late if that loser's here before us," drawled a voice from near Tenten's front door. A young man with tattoos on his cheeks kicked off his shoes and offered a broad grin to the two assembled people. Behind him came a sandy-haired boy who was tall but also slightly heavy, especially in the views of war-rationed America. Picking up the rear, a small teenager with blue-black hair and startling almost white eyes carefully stepped into the room, closed the door, and offered a kind smile.

"Oh, shut it, Kiba!" Naruto shouted at the first boy they launched themselves at each other. They thudded onto Tenten's carpet and wrestled there, rolling over and occasionally punching or kicking. Everyone knew it was all in fun, but the white-eyed Hinata, stood by them fretfully and frowned, trying to calm the two of them.

"Got anything to eat, Tenten?" asked the largest man. "These rations are killing me."

"I'll make you regret that, dead-last!" shouted Kiba.

"Boys, please," Hinata began, but they either ignored her or didn't hear her.

"What're you gonna do, puppy?" taunted Naruto.

"Anything in the fridge?"

"You're going down, Naruto!"

"Please!"

"Quiet!" Tenten yelled, stomping her foot. Chouji, who had begun toward the fridge, froze, Kiba and Naruto stopped, and Hinata jumped backward with a squeak of surprise. Once she had the attention of everyone present, Tenten sighed. "Naruto, why in the world is everyone here? I told you before, if we're gonna have a meeting, you have to tell me about it! And what in the world is so important? We met yesterday, for heaven's sake!"

Naruto stood up and smiled apologetically at Tenten. "Sorry, Ten, forgot to give you a holler. It's big news. Maybe . . . um, do you guys wanna sit down, maybe? It's big, I promise. Really big," he said excitedly.

Hinata and Tenten squished themselves companionably in one armchair, Chouji sat on the rocking chair, Kiba sprawled himself on the floor, and Naruto stood in the midst of them all. "I have a letter here," Naruto began.

"I didn't know you could read!" Kiba interrupted, his voice toned into mock surprise. Tenten growled and threw a small pillow at his head. As was expected, she didn't miss her mark. The pillow hit his face with a soft _whoff_ sound and fell harmlessly to the floor. Kiba made a move to throw it back, but Tenten's eyes promised danger. He merely placed it on the floor and laid his head down on it.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Kiba, cleared his throat, and continued on. "I have a letter here, but it's no ordinary letter. The return address on it freaked me out, actually. Because this isn't a letter from just anyone. It's from El Presidente, whose aid apparently came to see us at our last performance," he said, grinning as everyone gathered gasped. They all clamored for him to read it, so he pulled the letter out of the envelope with a flourish and cleared his throat.

"'Dear Naruto Uzumaki, Chouji Akimichi, Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, and Tenten,'" Naruto began. "Wow, next is a whole bunch of flowery bullshit. I'll just cut to the chase! Umm... here!" he announced, pointing to a paragraph further down in the letter. "'In order to boost the morale of those stationed in Europe, the presence of your circus troupe has been requested in northern Egypt. We will fly you from Chicago to Cairo on July 3, 1942,'" he read proudly.

"The th-third of August? Naruto, that's t-two days from today!" Hinata called out, placing a hand to her cheek. Her normally melodic voice stuttered, an old bad habit that resurfaced only when she was startled, intimidated, or nervous.

"How the hell do you expect us to get everything together in a whole two days? Naruto, that's crazy!" Kiba argued, his hands curled into fists. "Why the hell didn't you tell us about this earlier? And what does he mean, 'boost morale?' Does he think his soldiers are supposed to watch us and be happy and forget there's a war going on?"

"It makes sense, Kiba," Hinata told him, reaching to put a calming hand on his leg and trying to get him to quiet down. "I'm sure the troops down there are probably exhausted and frightened. And they have been fighting so long and so hard that I'm sure any sort of distraction would be welcome."

"I'm not done, Hinata!" Kiba yelled, his eyes flashing as he pulled away from the startled woman, who almost fell over. "Naruto, what the hell are you thinking? Those things are the least of our worries. Here's the real problem, you idiot: _they'll figure us out_," Kiba said, his voice dropping to a dangerously low octave.

"Hinata, don't act like you're not just as worried as I am, 'cause I can tell you are! Tenten, Chouji, what, are you guys okay with this? So we've established our identities as regular American people. As Hillary and Kipp and Teresa and Chris and Nathan. We're regular Americans. Sure, we're circus folks, and we're kids, and we're a little crazy, but no one even thinks for half a second that we could be god-damned _oriental_!"

"And if they find out," Tenten finished for him, her voice rising in worry, "we'll get sent to the interment camps. Or, worse yet, we may get pegged as spies, or they may be angry that we concealed our identities and nationalities. Once one of us is found out, they will cross-check the rest of us, and they'll find out that not a one of us is without Japanese blood."

Hinata pressed her fingers together nervously and cut in. "I have heard of people who have died in the interment camps. I have heard of families who have lost children, of those who have died in winter from lack of proper clothing. Also, with me along, our chances of being discovered are higher. Some of my mother's relatives live in Japan, and I am sure some are in the war. What happens if they see me and recognize me? I would be putting the four of you in grave danger."

"Why should we help the government, after all?" Chouji began. "Why should we help to boost morale? If we boost their morale, then what happens? Then they're just able to kill more people again. When we help them, we just end up helping them kill more people. Or they go out and get killed themselves!" he emphasized. "Either way, it ends up death for someone!"

"You guys!" Naruto screeched. "You're scared, and I sure as hell don't believe it! So we've established ourselves as Americans? So what? Are you guys okay with that, with just lying low, with never being anything more than your average circus freak, nothing more than some kids who won't ever become any greater? You're telling me that you are scared of becoming greater just because something bad will happen!"

He glared at all of them in turn. "Bad stuff happens all the time, but that shouldn't stop us! You don't think that we're invisible when we're staying here, but we're not! We could get found out tomorrow! There's just as good a chance we'll get sent to the interment camps if we're here as there is if we go to Egypt! And Chouji, we boost morale so the next person they shoot isn't themselves! We boost morale to help our side, and I really believe that maybe we're killing people, but our way is right! Is it okay for the Axis to keep doing what they're doing? To kill far more innocents than might accidentally die once in a while in interment camps? And we won't help out _our _side of the war because we're scared.

"Besides, you guys, do you know what? How could we just say 'no, sorry, Mr. President, we can't go. But yeah, thanks for the offer!' How well do you think that would go over? They're giving us the chance to do more than ration food and collect metal scraps and make gardens, and any other American would take it. Don't you think it looks suspicious?

"And yeah, one other thing. If we don't go, what happens then? Assuming they don't get suspicious. We could just continue giving shows, but who here has the time or the money to come anymore? You saw the drop in people last time. What happens if they draft Kiba, Chouji, and me? The next time we meet, there could be one or three or five of us missing. Dead. Anything could happen, and it's not hard for them to split us up. Would you rather die alone without your friends and teammates? We may be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, but I'll be damned if we don't do it together!"

Naruto stopped and stood, panting slightly and still glaring at each person. Flabbergasted, Tenten, Kiba, and Chouji stood with their mouths wide open. Hinata was the first person to move, stepping to her feet. She reached out for one of his hands, and after a moment of searching, she found it. "Naruto, you are a better American than anyone I know, regardless of race or culture."

She smiled sweetly in the direction of her companions. "He's right you know. You all know this story, but I think I'll remind you, for you must have forgotten. I myself had forgotten for a moment. Once I was a scared little girl, but I met Naruto and instantly I was filled with... a sense of confidence, perhaps, a sense of purpose. He told me I would make an amazing performer, and I had laughed very hard," she said, giggling.

"When I told him I was blind, he hadn't cared. 'If you do tightrope, there's no need for sight. It's all feeling the rope with your feet and sometimes your hands. If you're a flyer for the trapeze, we can use musical cues for yourself and your partner, and practice them until you got them just right,' he had said. It was against my better judgement, and I was afraid. However, I tried, and I found that I could do it. I was scared, but after a while of training I learned truly how to fly. If I had let my fear and blindness stop me, would I have done what I truly wanted? Naruto is right; we need to let go of our fears and do this together," she said, blushing. Her milky eyes swam, but she blinked and smiled again.

Naruto ruffled Hinata's hair. "So are you gonna listen to Hina? Do you guys think that maybe we could do this together? Someday we'll be the best circus ever, and no one will care what race we are. Until then, we just gotta work together! Right?"

"Well," Kiba began, rising and leaning against Naruto, "I suppose I can't leave you with Hinata, loser. You'd probably mess something up."

"And if I don't join you, then you'll scare poor Hinata to death. She needs another woman with her, right?" Tenten asked, grinning as she stood and put her arm around the aforementioned girl's thin shoulders.

"Whoever would cook for you guys if I weren't there? I know I can't leave any of you guys to do that, so I guess that I'll hang around," Chouji said as he jumped to his feet and joined his friends.

"Good. Now that we've got that settled, you guys might want to head home. It's getting darker, and I don't want you walking to your homes in the dark, okay?" Tenten asked. "Don't forget to pack all of your stuff, too. We'll meet here tomorrow night, and we'll all sleep here and then go to Chicago in the morning. Oh, yes, Hina?" she asked as she noticed the other woman still standing around.

"I was wondering, Tenten. Do you think perhaps I might stay here with you tonight?" Hinata asked quietly, a blush coloring her cheeks. "I... I'm a bit afraid, still. I bet you're not completely confident, either. Am I correct?" she prodded.

Tenten grinned ruefully as she waved the boys out of the door. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I don't feel confident yet. You and Naruto are right, though. This really is the best choice. But that doesn't stop me from feeling nervous."

"We will just have to stick together, and we can pray everything is all right."

"I already knew that."


End file.
